Word of the Day-quantal0 评论
quantal \adjective\ adjective
Meaning *1 : of, relating to, or having only two experimental alternatives (as dead or alive, all or none)（数量性状） 2 : of or relating to a quantum Example Sentence The experiment with the herbicide will generate a quantal response — either the plant to which it is applied will survive, or it will die. Did you know? In Latin, "quantum" is the neuter form of "quantus," meaning "how much?" Both of these forms played a role in the development of "quantal." The first sense of "quantal," used in scientific experimentation to refer to cases in which only one of two possible results occurs, derived from "quanti," the plural of "quantus." ("Quantus" is also an ancestor of our noun "quantity.") The second sense of "quantal" is more directly related to Latin "quantum" and the English noun "quantum," which refers to the smallest possible unit of a form of energy (such as light). Word of the Day-incursion0 评论
incursion \in-KUR-zhuhn; -shuhn\, noun:
1. a sudden attack; invasion, raid 2. a running or flowing in Jerina's bulwarks failed to protect Bosnia from the last great incursion against Europe from the East, the invasions of Ottoman Turk armies into the southeastern corner of the continent beginning in the fourteenth century. -- Chuck Sudetic, Blood and Vengeance incursion和invasion有区别么？ Word of the Day-valediction0 评论
valediction \val-uh-DIK-shuhn\, noun:
the action of bidding farewell; a farewell The playing of taps was a special moment in the ceremony, a final, haunting valediction for the men who had made the supreme sacrifice. -- John Glenn, John Glenn: A Memoir Few careers have such self-appointed endings, and his speech was a fine valediction. -- Howard's dignified end, Daily Telegraph, 37170 At the end, they sobbed farewell to an old friend who gives a beautiful valediction. -- Richard Corliss, Martial Masterpiece, Time Asia, 35255 Word of the Day-hermetic0 评论
hermetic \hur-MET-ik\, adjective:
1. closed tightly; airtight 2. obscure; magical French control of the border in barring foreign volunteers is so hermetic that Mrs. Stattelman, a former Red Cross nurse who served with the French Army during the World War and is a Swiss citizen, 60 years old, was refused a passport into Spain both at Toulouse and Bordeaux. -- Ernest Hemingway, Hemingway Finds France is Neutral, New York Times, March 17, 1937 Even the famous obscurity of some of his poetry seems driven by this desire always to be seen setting forth; what is a hermetic idiom but(除了。。。外) the sign of a new language getting itself under way? -- Nicholas Jenkins, A Life of Beginnings, New York Times, January 4, 1998 by 1663, "completely sealed," also (1637) "dealing with occult science or alchemy," from Latin hermeticus, from Greek Hermes, god of science and art, among other things, identified by Neoplatonists, mystics, and alchemists with the Egyptian god Thoth as Hermes Trismegistos "Thrice-Great Hermes," who supposedly invented the process of making a glass tube airtight (a process in alchemy) using a secret seal. Word of the Day-kinesics0 评论
kinesics \kuh-NEE-siks\ noun
Meaning : a systematic study of the relationship between nonlinguistic body motions (as blushes, shrugs, or eye movement) and communication Example Sentence Marianne has enrolled in a class in kinesics this semester to fulfill a requirement for her theater major. Did you know? Anthropologists began to take serious interest in nonverbal communication through gestures, postures, and facial expressions in the 1940s. It is believed, however, that the publication of Ray Birdwhistell’s 1952 book Introduction to Kinesics marked the beginning of formal research into what we know familiarly as "body language." Over 50 years later, the results of kinesics are deeply entrenched in our culture, giving us a whole new language with which to interpret everyday encounters and interaction. kinetic kinetics dynamics Word of the Day-unreconstructed0 评论
unreconstructed \un-ree-kun-STRUK-tud\ adjective
Meaning : not reconciled to some political, economic, or social change; also : holding stubbornly to a particular belief, view, place, or style Example Sentence My uncle, a self-designated unreconstructed liberal who wrote frequent letters to the editor, was never one to keep his opinions to himself. Did you know? The reorganization and reestablishment of the seceded states in the Union after the American Civil War is referred to as the Reconstruction. In 1867 a writer for Harper's Weekly came up with the word "unreconstructed" for political candidates not reconciled to the outcome of the War and the changes enacted during the Reconstruction. The word immediately caught on with readers and has been used to refer to intransigent or dyed-in-the-wool partisans ever since. The word has also been used outside of political and social contexts. For instance, a person might be "an unreconstructed rocker" or "an unreconstructed romantic." obdurate Word of the Day-aghast0 评论
Aghast (adjective)
Pronunciation: [ê-'gæst] Definition: Shocked by horror, fright; more recently, just deeply shocked. Usage: "Aghast" belongs to one of the least investigated classes of adjectives, one which I call “anomalous adjectives" because its members cannot be used before nouns but only in predicate position, and have no noun or adverb form. That is, you may say, "The masseuse was aghast at the mouse" but you can NOT speak of "the aghast masseuse" or "the aghastness of the masseuse." Others in this class include "awake," "adrift," and "abloom." Suggested Usage: Shakespeare could still use the verb, "gast," when he wrote 'King Lear' (1605), for in act II, scene 1 we find, "Or whether gasted by the noyse [noise] I made, Full sodainely [suddenly] he fled." Remember that the base meaning of today's word refers to fright, "Everyone in the neighborhood was aghast with terror at the gang of dogs that plied the streets at night." However, "deeply shocked" may have already displaced that sense, "I was aghast to see Madge pour red wine in the white wine glasses!" Word of the Day-connotation0 评论
Connotation (noun)
Pronunciation: [kah-nê-'tey-shên] Definition: Not the exact meaning but the implications of a word. The antonym of today's word is "denotation," which means "the specific meaning of a word." For example, the denotation of "caviar" is simply "sturgeon eggs" but it connotes wealth and indulgence. Usage: Shakespeare wrote that "[n]othing is good or bad, but thinking makes it so," and that's a good way to consider the meaning of today's word. For example, words like "hog" and "cow" are perfectly acceptable when talking about the livestock on the farm but their connotations discourage applying them to the farmer or his wife. Suggested Usage: "Connotation" doesn't have to be reserved for discussion of the meaning of words; in fact, it begs wider usage. "I wouldn't talk about the Caribbean with Miodrag—after he went on that trip for singles last year, cruises have a humiliating connotation to him." The verb is "connote," and it should see more play, too: "Geoff didn't mean to connote anything negative in calling Otto a daft bugger; that's just Geoff's peculiar way of showing affection." Word of the Day-squash0 评论
Squash (noun)
Pronunciation: [skwahsh] Definition: (1) A vine or plant of the genus Cucurbita whose fruit has leathery, bumpy outer coat, a fleshy inner layer than is edible, and seeds that are sometimes baked and eaten as nuts. Usage: At the time the first English settlers came to New England, the word "pompion" was a general term for that whole assortment of vegetables we now call "squash" (see our word "pumpkin"). When settlers first encountered pumpkins, they were just considered another variety of pompion. The name for what we now call "pumpkin" was borrowed from the Narragansett or Wampanoag word "askútasquash." Somehow, over time, the words flipped and what had been "pompion" became "squash" and what had been "askútasquash" became "pumpkin." Suggested Usage: Today's word is actually a reduction of "squanter-squash," the original attempt by European settlers at the Narragansett word. The orange-yellow (winter) squash are rich in Vitamins A & C and fiber. The most unusual squash may be spaghetti squash, with flesh comprised of long, soft fibers resembling spaghetti. If we were to say, "Mommy, Darren squashed the squash with his squash racket," are we repeating ourselves? As the etymology shows, we wouldn't be. Word of the Day-transpose0 评论
Transpose (verb)
Pronunciation: [trænz-'poz] Definition: To switch places, to interchange, to put A in B's position and B in A's position; (mathematics) to move a term from one side of an equation to the other（移项）; (music) to convert a musical piece to another key（变调）. Usage: Today's word is the progenitor of a large family of derivatives. There is an active and passive adjective, transpositive "can transpose, transposes" and transposable "can be transposed." Someone, say, a musician, who transposes is a transposer and the act or result of transposing is a transposition. So after the transposition of a piece of music from C major to A major, the version in A major is a transposition (of the version in C major). The noun, "transposition," has its own adjective, "transpositional" and an adverb, "transpositionally." Suggested Usage: Many languages permit the transposition of words. In German, for instance, you create questions by transposing the subject and verb of the equivalent positive statement: Sie geht ins Kino "She is going to the movies" becomes a question if you transpose the first two words: Geht sie ins kino? "Is she going to the movies?" English learners often accidentally transpose the middle [e] and [i] when writing "receive." Word of the Day-latent0 评论
Latent (adjective)
Pronunciation: ['leyt-nt] Definition: In a hidden or dormant state, potential but not actual. Usage: The antonym of today's word is "patent" ['peyt-nt], not to be confused with patent ['pæt-nt] "license of ownership." The noun is "latency." The latent-patent pair resembles the implicit-explicit pair. Implicit means "implied, not stated" while explicit means "clearly expressed." "If you touch my garlic bread you'll be sorry," is an implicit threat while "If you touch my garlic bread I'll pour this spaghetti on your head," is an explicit threat. The threat in either case may or may not be real. A latent talent, however, is a real but hidden potential, while a patent talent is real talent that is clearly detectable. Suggested Usage: Today's word is used to express hidden facets of personalities, "Look how creatively Mikey has pushed his vegetables around his plate; this child has a latent artistic talent." This word is also useful outside the home: in the financial world, "If Clifford invested $1,000 in Malodoras Cosmetics, he is either a patent fool or a latent financial genius," in music, "The way he plays the piano suggests there may be a latent prize-fighter lurking inside Baldwin," to mention only two.
订阅：
评论 (Atom)
|